


It takes no time to fall in love

by InsidiousIntent



Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: 1x06 never happened, Alex is a softie, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Diners, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Michael is a Tease, Michael works at the Crashdown, at all, no sadness here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-26
Updated: 2019-12-26
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:40:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21963709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InsidiousIntent/pseuds/InsidiousIntent
Summary: Alex pursed his lips. It’s barely six in the morning and he hasn’t had enough coffee to deal with Guerin’s brand of banter. Or flirting. Or whatever it is that Guerin did every morning. He silently raised his empty coffee cup instead. “How bout you stop with the talking, and start with the pouring coffee. Please.”
Relationships: Michael Guerin/Alex Manes
Comments: 47
Kudos: 210





	It takes no time to fall in love

**Author's Note:**

> I had asked fandom for a Michael works at Crashdown Cafe AU for months before realizing I had to write one myself. So here's my humble offering. Title from a Jason Mraz song :)  
> Completely unbeta'ed. I wanted to write something quick before the end of the year. All errors are sadly my own
> 
> Edit: This fic derives a lot of inspiration from [thehoyden](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thehoyden/pseuds/thehoyden) writer of the original diner fic.

* * *

“What can I get for ya, handsome?” Michael said, leaning over the diner counter, smirk firmly on his face. 

Alex kept the menu open, staring at it silently for a moment, just to be contrary. Eventually he closed the menu and said, “three egg-white veggie omelette and plain toast, please.” 

Michael raised an eyebrow and stared. “Alex, why do you do this to me every time?”

Alex sighed, this argument had been ongoing for almost six months and Michael hadn’t given up trying to convince him. He refused to play the defense today, just like every day. “I know for a fact that I’m not the only customer with a favorite meal, Guerin.” 

Michael stretched out his hands and waved around. “You’re in New Mexico, darlin’! Do you even know about Arturo’s world famous huevos? I could make you churros _to die for_ , waffles, grits, biscuits, _anything_ you can imagine. But nope, not you. It’s the same boring omelette day after day for you. You know what that is? _Boring._ ”

“No, that is me wanting my pants to fit,” Alex said, dryly. 

Michael tilted his head and ran his eyes down Alex’s body with obvious heat in his eyes. “And I do _love_ how those pants fit you, handsome.”

Alex pursed his lips. It’s barely six in the morning and he hasn’t had enough coffee to deal with Guerin’s brand of banter. Or flirting. Or whatever it is that Guerin did every morning. 

He silently raised his empty coffee cup instead. “How bout you stop with the talking, and start with the pouring coffee. _Please_.”

Michael wiggled his brows, but grabbed the carafe to fill up Alex’s cup. “Mmm, I love it when you give me orders,” he said with that still infuriating smirk. Alex rolled his eyes, and pulled out his phone to get started on the emails of the day. 

___

Alex always got to work early enough that he was the first one in the team to greet the Major every morning. The Major never said it out loud, because the man was made of stone, but Alex knew he was impressed at how alert and refreshed Alex always looked, even though they weren’t in battlefield conditions anymore. But only Alex knew that all he really had time for in the mornings was to shower, put on his prosthesis, and get dressed. Making himself four cups of coffee and a full breakfast wasn’t something he was capable of doing morning after morning. Since coming back to Roswell, he had his timing down to a science, and it helped that Arturo had agreed to open Crashdown a little earlier just to fit Alex’s schedule. He remembered walking through the doors that first day, seeing Arturo at the till and feeling guilty about making him work extra. Arturo had waved his apologies off, and let him know that he wouldn’t be doing all the work anyways. The next day was the first morning he met Michael Guerin, who he’d gone to high school with, now all grown up.

He didn’t remember that first meeting, but he remembered the essentials - the infuriating smirk, the _howdy handsome_ , the curls. Alex had picked the first healthy breakfast option that came to mind that morning, but the dramatic response and resulting argument was not something Alex would ever give into. 

___

Alex always walked in early enough to be one of the few first customers, besides a couple truckers passing through, and on occasion small hoards of young drunks fighting off a hangover after a full night of partying. Michael always poured him a cup of coffee first, without a single word exchanged. He always waited patiently until Alex finished his first cup to greet him with an incredibly cheesy pick up line first and insulted his choice of breakfast second. Just to get back at him, Alex was almost compulsive in his perusal of the menu, even though he never changed his order.

Michael’s pick up lines hadn’t improved over time. “Wanna take a walk on the wild side today, darlin’?” he asked, characteristic smirk on his face. 

“Three egg-white veggie omelette,” Alex started to say.

“and plain toast. What a shocker.” Michael rolled his eyes, “why are you like this?”

“I wonder what Arturo thinks of you harassing customers like this,” Alex said with a frown. 

“Excuse me,” Michael responded, hand on his chest, “all my harassment is just for you, darlin’. I’m a monogamous, faithful to just one man kinda guy.”

“Lucky me.” Alex said dryly, getting another smile from Michael. 

____

It had been a bad night, and Alex got a total of forty two minutes of sleep. Phantom pains in his leg triggered flashbacks that refused to let him rest and the cycle perpetuated all night. He felt exhausted, his entire body feeling like lead as he made his way to his usual seat at the diner. Only the predictability of his routine kept him moving forward, and seeing Michael’s smiling face felt like a single puzzle piece fitting back into his day. 

“Fun night?” Michael asked, smirking. 

“Not really,” was all Alex could say in return. For some reason Michael never pushed for details, and dutifully refilled his coffee cup twice more before asking if he was ready for some ‘personal growth.” Alex dutifully frowned and shook his head, feeling the normality settle into him like a warm blanket. 

“I don’t wanna go to work,” he semi-whined, his usual stoicism unavailable after a long night of pain and nightmares, under the cover of morning grayness, and Michael’s solid presence. 

“You hang in there, handsome,” Michael said, voice as gentle as his smile. “The day can only get better from here on out. And I’ve got your most important meal of the day.”

Breakfast that morning felt heartier than usual. 

___

Michael greeted him extra enthusiastically the next morning. “Day get any better for you, darlin’?” 

“Much better, thanks Guerin,” Alex said.

“And what is it that you do that had you all down like that yesterday?” 

“I’m a programmer,” Alex relayed dutifully, his cover bulletproof. Afterall, he was the one who created the cover for him and his team.

“Wow, that sounds exciting,” Michael replied, voice dripping with sarcasm. Alex was a little thrown by how quickly Michael was able to brush off his lie. When had he gotten to know Alex that well?

He tried to even the playing field a little. “And what’s a guy like you working at a diner?”

Michael smirked, “I’m just learning the ways of human social interaction through a menial job.” 

Alex laughed out loud, throwing his head back with joy, missing the surprised and fond look on Michael’s face. 

“And how’s that working for you so far?” he asked. 

“I get to make you breakfast every morning, so it isn’t all bad,” Michael responded. 

“Oh? Isn’t my breakfast ‘lame’ according to you?”

“Yeah and I maintain that your breakfast _is_ lame, but _you_ darlin’ are anything but,” Michael said, winking at him and strolling off to tend to another customer. 

___

Either Michael wasn’t joking about being an alien, or he was a really good hacker, because Alex couldn’t find any trace of him online. There were no digital records of a Michael Guerin existing in Roswell beyond his discovery in the desert with two other children. Alex knew of the adoption records of the Evans twins, and would never share what he knew about Michael’s upbringing in various foster homes until he returned to Roswell at the age of eleven. Alex was getting frustrated at how much time he had already spent on searching for Michael’s current digital footprint and coming up empty. His search had ended at the transcripts of a certain Michael Guerin from the doctoral programs in Mathematics _and_ Computer Engineering. But Michael was also right there, working a _menial job_ at a diner in nowhere town, New Mexico for unfathomable reasons. After weeks of search leading nowhere, Alex had to finally give up and accept that Michael probably just wanted to stay in town for reasons Alex would never find out. He refused to examine why he was so curious about Michael to begin with, chalking it up to the nature of his job.

___

On a Sunday morning, a few weeks later, Alex walked into chaos at the diner. Every hungover person under the age of twenty five seemed to have found the diner and he had to power walk through three different lumbering people to make his way to the counter. He was surprised to find his spot empty, a newspaper holding the seat. He was too hungry and not caffeinated enough to deal with whatever was happening around him to find a server, but Michael caught his eye and nodded his head, reassuring him that the seat was his. Alex blew a breath and took his place. 

“Sorry about the insanity, apparently there was some rave in town last night,” Michael explained, handing over Alex’s usual cup of coffee and speaking louder than usual. Alex gritted his teeth and tried to keep his expression neutral and homicidal thoughts at bay. Michael, in an unusually distracted mood, patted his arm and murmured about getting his usual even as he ran away to handle a booth full of hungover young ones. 

He was so distracted by the crowd at the diner that he didn’t realize when Liz had sidled up to him. 

“Since when do you have a _usual_ with us? I thought we were too greasy for health nuts like you,” Liz commented, planting an elbow next to him. 

“I ask for the same thing every morning, and Guerin makes it for me,” he replied. 

“Oh yeah? And what’s that?” 

“Three egg-white veggie omelette and plain toast,” Alex sniffed as he replied, refusing to feel bad about his breakfast choices. 

“And Guerin _makes_ that?” Liz’s brows were almost up to her hairline. 

“He does, and you have three tables waiting for you Ortecho,” Michael confirmed, showing up at the counter out of nowhere. “Get a move on.”

Liz rolled her eyes and poked her tongue at Michael, turning and strolling over to her starving customers. Alex watched her go, trying not to read into Liz’s line of questioning. 

___

It’s another Sunday, and the start of a five day long leave from work for Alex. The last “project” almost killed him and three members of his team, but they all got the antidote in time. He’d been stuck with Kyle “Motherhen” Valenti for the past two days, and had finally been able to return home the night before. 

The Major had stopped him from getting to his desk that morning, and told him in no uncertain terms that he and his team were on medical leave for the next five days and were not to come back to work until next week. Apparently alien poisons needed time to work through the system and they needed to be in the best shape for the job etc. etc. _etc._

Alex woke up that morning and found himself hungry and uncaffeinated and without anywhere to go, so he got ready and started his usual routine. It wasn’t because he wanted to see Michael. It was _not_. 

“Howdy handsome,” Michael greeted him with a smile on his face, and for the first time Alex realized how soft and personal that smile was. Alex had never seen Michael smile that way at any other customer - this was Michael’s smile for Alex and no one else. 

“Hi to you too, Guerin,” Alex replied with a smile of his own. He almost chuckled at Michael’s response - eyes widened, a stutter in his step. 

“What’s got you in such a good mood today?” Michael responded warmly, elbows on the counter. 

“I just survived certain death,” Alex quipped. The surprised look on Michael’s face confirmed that Alex had managed to catch him off-guard. Alex enjoyed the knowledge that he could still surprise Michael.

“Well done, superhero. Is this a celebration breakfast then? What will it be?”

“Churros with berries and whipped cream on the side,” Alex promptly said.

Michael laughed, head thrown back. “The man can even _joke_ ,” he said. “Just for that, I’m going to go ahead and get your usual breakfast started.”

“I wasn’t joking, Guerin. I think I’m finally ready,” 

“Ready for what, Alex?” Michael’s deep voice wrapping around his name, sent a thrill up his spine.

“Ready for something new, something _better_ ,” he responded. The look in Michael’s eyes confirmed he understood Alex wasn’t talking about breakfast anymore. 

“As you wish,” Michael said, smiling as he turned to go back into the kitchen. 

Michael brought back a plate full churros that made Alex’s mouth water. He attacked the food with gusto, which was probably why it took him a minute to realize Michael was still in front of him, staring.

“Um, what?” he asked, licking the powdered sugar off his bottom lip. Michael’s eyes moved to his lips and then back up to his face, before swallowing audibly.

“Nothin’,” Michael said after a moment, swiping his thumb in the drop of chocolate sauce at the corner of the plate and licking it off. Alex was helpless to do anything but look, his entire body attuned to every movement Michael was making. 

___

It was late afternoon, and Alex was standing at the end of the alley behind The Crashdown close to an old Chevy truck. He saw a lone figure come out of the back door of the cafe, dragging a giant garbage back behind him. Alex waited as the man dumped the bag in a nearby dumpster, and turned to walk toward him, a black cowboy hat keeping Alex out of his periphery. The man walked slowly, sauntering forward with a bunch of keys twirling in his left hand. 

“Howdy Guerin,” Alex said. 

Michael’s head snapped up, a smirk landing on his face. “What’re you doing here, handsome?”

“Came to see you,” Alex said, chin up in determination. He had given this a lot of thought, “I think I want to try some more new things now.”

Michael’s smile was blinding. He sauntered closer, using Alex’s jacket lapel to pull him up to his chest. “Are you asking me what I think you’re asking me _?_ ” he said, smirking and licking his lips. 

Alex pulled him the rest of the way and smashed their lips together, unable to wait any longer. The kiss started off hot and heavy and filthy, tongues and teeth and weeks of build up mixing together. Neither Alex nor Michael could help their hands from roaming, pushing and pulling each other. 

After a moment, the need to breathe pushed them apart. Michael slowly stepped back, but walked them over to the truck with Alex’s hand still in his. 

“Well Alex, you’ve given me orders every day for the past six months,” Michael said, leaving Alex in front of the truck as he walked over to unlock it. “Now I’ve got one for you.”

“Oh?” Alex asked, already filled with hope and lightness, a rush of feelings he hadn’t even realized were building for half a year. 

“Wanna go for a ride?” Michael asked. 

Smiling, and already in love, Alex climbed in. 

**Author's Note:**

> Come cry about all things malex with me on [Tumblr](https://insidious-intent.tumblr.com/)


End file.
